Eye Banking Network Contributes Quality Donor Tissues

In India, 1.1 million people suffer from corneal blindness. The only cure for corneal blindness is corneal transplantation using healthy corneas donated by individuals upon their death. In 10 years, there is an increase in Cornea Collection. 1,00,000 plus donor corneas have been harvested (collected) through the L V Prasad Eye Bank Network since the inception of eye banking services at the Institute in 1989.

In 2009 the total number of corneas collected was 3283 but in 2019 it increased to 11, 204. Cornea distribution also increased from 1803 to 6361. People are becoming more familiar with cornea surgeries. The number of Corneal Transplant surgeries performed annually has increased from 1467 to 2876 at LVPEI. Corneas are also distributed to surgeons outside LVPEI networks.

The Hospital Cornea Retrieval Program (HCRP) was initiated in 1990 to focus on deaths that occur at hospitals and encourage eye donations by motivating the donor’s families. Currently, HCRP runs in 24 hospitals. Mostly, 20 percent of corneas are collected through 40 partner centers, 10 percent is collected from voluntary donations, and 70 percent cornea collection happens through the HCRP. Corneas that are found unsuitable for surgeries, are used in training and research.